Unico Hijo
by cojiesmama
Summary: Calleigh pulls Eric out of his sabbatical and is introduced to the rest of the Delko family. EC all the way.


**The Empty Bar Stool**

Miami-Dade PD's criminalists hardly, hardly ever sit down and have a formal staff meeting. In Calleigh Duquesne's memory, this is only the third time. Her boss, Horatio Caine, has never been an administrative person, bothering about people's attendance or conduct or wardrobe. As long as the cases are solved and bad people are put away, in Horatio's book, there's nothing to talk about.

Guess this was one of the lucky days when Miami didn't have any real crime for a full hour that the CSIs needed to rush to. In murder terms, it's a slow enough day to actually dig up unsolveds and take a second look.

This was also Calleigh's third time to sit inside Horatio's office for a staff meeting since they all practically spend their time in the field or in the lab. Horatio settled in his seat. Ryan Wolfe settled on the couch at the end of the room. Natalia Boa Vista sat on a chair across Horatio, and Calleigh sat in front of Natalia.

Calleigh saw a bar stool at the end of a bookshelf across her and remembered the first and second staff meeting she attended. Eric Delko sat there on that bar stool and swirled around like a little kid, making jokes. He was a little kid, in fact being the youngest in the group. Back then, it was her, Delko and Tim Speedle – bless his soul -- who sat in the room.

Now, he no longer sat there.

It's been three weeks since Eric volunteered a sabbatical leave of about three months after a series of seizures, a side effect after having been shot in the head two years prior. His last seizure was the worst. And Calleigh was there to witness it.

Calleigh had walked in their communal locker rooms and found Eric convulsing on the floor, half-dressed, his eyes showing only the whites, his fingers and toes all curled, his forehead bleeding from having hit the locker door. Calleigh screamed for help and scrambled for her phone to dial 911 and ask for a paramedic. She ran her fingers in his hair and she felt tears pouring down her face. _"Oh, God, Eric"_ she remember whispering.

Calleigh shook her head, as if shaking out the memory of that tragic day out of her head. It pained her to see Eric turn in his badge and his gun as he left for three months of therapy. But it equally hurt her to see him go through a seizure like that again.

She hasn't seen him since.

She blinked her eyes. That bar stool cannot be more empty.

"Are you okay, Calleigh?" Horatio said.

"Sorry, you were saying?" Calleigh said as she reached for the folder Horatio has handed to her.

"As I was saying" Horatio said as he walked around the room "Given the expanded databases of AFIS, IBIS and CODIS, we now cover the other states away from the mainland, namely Hawaii, Guam, Alaska and Puerto Rico. So I have pulled these unsolveds which may have some connection to these new states on our database."

"I can't imagine having to cross jurisdictions for those cases" Natalia remarked "Just getting somebody out of New Orleans is already a stretch"

"I can imagine it" Ryan answered "if you'll throw in coconuts or a ski trip"

Calleigh opened her case folder. "These are mostly Speed's and Ryan's" she remarked. "Well, Speed's record is understandable, what's your excuse?" Calleigh joked.

"Not my fault my suspects like to fly" Ryan answered.

"This one's Eric's though" Natalia said. Calleigh looked up.

"Finger was recovered at a school yard. Matched to a missing child." Natalia read. "There was hemorrhaging around the wound meaning the child was alive when it was severed"

"Graciella Fortuno" Horatio whispered.

"That's correct" Natalia said. "The primary suspect was Eliseo Fortuno. Fled to Puerto Rico."

"The child's father?" Ryan asked.

"Uncle" Calleigh answred. "I remember it too. The girl Graciella was the heir to the estate of her father, Mateo, Eliseo's brother."

"And when Mateo died, Graciella stood to inherit a 20-million dollar hotel in the heart of Miami" Horatio answered. "Here's what we'll do, we'll test-run this bulked up database by searching for Eliseo Fortuno. Ms. Boa Vista….."

"Horatio" Calleigh interrupted. Horatio turned around -- she hardly ever interrupts him.

"Let me handle this case" Calleigh said, almost in a whisper.

Horatio looked to Natalia. Then to Ryan. They were taken aback too by her brazenness -- was it interest in the case or interest in a case that's Delko's?

"I trust that you will contact Eric immediately to reorient you on the case" Horatio said.

Calleigh reached for her phone. "I'm dialing right now".


End file.
